Gotham: S3E13: “Smile Like You Mean It”

Published on January 24, 2017, by Murjani Rawls - Posted in Television0

8.0Overall Score

Story Line:8/10

Characters:8/10

As the lights went out throughout all of Gotham, it finally feels like we have a true villain. The return of Jerome felt natural and welcomed. His introduction in Season Two was met with two different opinions. On one hand, we know it’s way too early in the Batman ethos to introduce the actual Joker. The way he was introduced initially felt like he was just another throwaway, but the two stages in which Jerome is brought back is both well done and thought out.

At first, it looked like there was no bringing back Jerome – from there, you had Dwight and his almost “cult-like” devotees show that Joker is an idea that will go out through time. The graffiti with the smiley faces were a nice touch as well. Then, when Jerome comes alive, it perfectly captures the personality of who The Joker will become. Cameron Monaghan is able to nail every little nuance from the talk with Lee to catch up what he missed to the eventual killing of Dwight. There’s no rhyme or reason with Jerome, just a need for chaos which is the perfect precursor of what’s to come.

The mind games with Oswald continues as now Tabitha and Barbara get in on the action effectively killing off the opposing mob bosses. This slow burn of humble pie that’s being served to Oswald is fitting, but as Oswald gets eliminated from this mayor position, one would have to think that everybody will want a seat at the table. Even if the women help Edward, is there an eventual double cross in the works?

Bruce’s altruism may have cost him his relationship with Selena as we found out that Maria Kyle is not all that she seems. Much further down the road, there’s a relationship between Batman and Catwoman that has tension despite a romantic flow. The fact that Bruce tried to do the right thing to make Selena happy despite knowing that it was a lie is good grounds to start this distrust between the two. You also see that Bruce is learning to defend himself further planting the seeds that he is getting older and growing towards the Caped Crusader role.

Gotham needed a strong episode to go into the winter finale (already?!) and “Smile Like You Mean It” gave us three story lines that seem like they had a definite, interesting semi-conclusion to them.